Anyone know boat heaters?

[Scott R]

The heater on my wakeboat is dead, I’ve never tried it before yesterday but everyone was wet and cold so I flipped the switch and it blew the breaker. This is on a Sanger 2017 5.7l. I can locate the parts to fix this contraption, but really it’s a piece of junk. Anyone know of a better company that I could plumb in? It just has two heater hoses to a simple heater core and a 12v fan that sits under the bow.

[crb07]

The fan looks loose and the fan housing is off its mounts.


Not very helpful I bet.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by crb07

The fan looks loose and the fan housing is off its mounts.


Not very helpful I bet.

You are correct on both counts though! This was after I drilled out about twenty pop rivets. The company that built this engineering triumph is called “HeaterCraft” btw.

[Cajundaddy]

A pretty simple device. A heat exchanger, 12vdc fan motor, shroud. It shouldn't be too tough to get it sorted. Just gotta source parts that fit.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

A pretty simple device. A heat exchanger, 12vdc fan motor, shroud. It shouldn't be too tough to get it sorted. Just gotta source parts that fit.

The fan is a hacked up Attwood bilge blower, I found that easily and ordered it used. I would just like to find something that's a bit better engineered.

[Cajundaddy]

This might work.
https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/70601/10002/-1?CAWELAID=1710590108&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=39714413703&CATCI=pla-192574173191&CATARGETID=230006180039221023&cadevice=c&jegspromo=nonbrand&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3YjNu4Lp3AIVFLvsCh2EwwntEAQYBCAB EgKGUvD_BwE

[Scott R]

I think it will, and it's a really good price too! And unlike the current one the one you found has a two speed switch!

[Cajundaddy]

I'm just not sure how much good it will do when underway with all the wind unless you have a cuddy cabin. We have waterski'd since the 70s in all weather in an open boat, even in January and never had a heater. In the winter we used wetsuits, towels, and hooded sweatshirts to keep the cold away in the early AM.

[Jeff Alton]

Check with the tournament boat manufactures. In our Malibu we had a similar, though better engineered heater. They are essentially bus heaters. Ours had foot and dash vents and pull out hoses you could point where you pleased. Worked very well for skiing during the winter up here in the PNW.

Cheers

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by Jeff Alton

Check with the tournament boat manufactures. In our Malibu we had a similar, though better engineered heater. They are essentially bus heaters. Ours had foot and dash vents and pull out hoses you could point where you pleased. Worked very well for skiing during the winter up here in the PNW.

Cheers

Yes, same thing Sanger is a tournament boat the tubes pull out and your supposed to put them under your towels.

[Scott R]

Well for the rest of the summer I decided to fix the old unit. I found a used Atwood bilge blower on EBay for $25 and scrapped the guts for the fan motor. I then submerged the heater core and pressurized it to find the leak. I used silver solder and my torch to fix the hole in the core and put the thing back together. If it’s not to hot tomorrow I’ll reinstall it.

[Evans, Marv]

Wow! I didn't know Sanger was still making boats. I helped on the pit crew of a guy in the '60s that had a Sanger drag boat he raced in the San Joaquin Valley and other parts of California. It was a three point hull with a blown hemi.